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Saturday, October 31, 2015

. . . that I think many people don't fully examine when they're listening to conservative candidates speak are:

1. Do you want to COMPLETELY neglect anyone (or everyone) in society who are not YOU or your immediate family?

2. Although the size of the national debt is incomprehensible to you (as it well is to me), do you really think that when these people talk about lower TAXES that they really intend to lower YOUR taxes?

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I would like to send you OHO's latest album via WeTransfer for airplay on PRM. 'Where Words Do Not Reach' is an archival collection of OHO's instrumental works dating back to 1974 and ending with a couple of new tunes. For the more adventuresome listener there is a lot to appreciate here starting with the intense album opening "Board Organ" where furious drumming, off kilter keyboards and fiery guitar run amok in an all-out progressive psychedelic jam. "Nocturnal Recurrence" is another solid track and very heavy on the keyboards while "Albumblatt" is an excellent all acoustic guitar number with impressive fret work from O'Sullivan and serves as a nice reprieve from the previous chaos. "Motion of Motion" is another fine acoustic guitar piece followed by the much heavier "Snow Lady/I Crawled" where the band's eclecticism shows up in the form of wild keyboard sounds and a somewhat darker theme. The band continues its genre hopping with the pop inspired "Aubrey Circle Dance" and the feel good country grooves in Non-Sex Nonsense". The album ends with two new tracks, "Slough of Despond" and "Unique", both having a more refined sound with the latter featuring mostly piano and Graboski's treated guitar chords. Where Words Do Not Reach covers a wide range of styles and sounds, enhanced by the band's eclectic arrangements and tuneful songwriting. Please visit www.ohomusic.com

Catch a wave and ride
Cars and motorbikes
Bikini babes in the sand
Vibin' to rockin' bands
Ocean City

From Memorial to Labor Day
We beckon you to play
To a boardwalk beat
Miles and miles of beach
Your memories to take
Currents dance and sway
leave your footprints in the sand

Fireworks at night
Give your love a kiss
Sail and fish the sea
Here life is a beach
in Ocean City

Now is the time that's right
For you only live once
Time does drag when it's all work and no fun
The ocean gateway calls you
Sport your shorts and shades
It's so divine to dine at life's buffet
It's almost heaven and
There's so much more we can say

Catch a wave and ride
Cool cars and motorbikes
Bikinis on the sand
Dance to rockin' bands

Monday, October 26, 2015

(fromhttp://www.washingtonexaminer.com/a-brief-guide-to-clinton-scandals-from-travelgate-to-emailgate/article/2562906)
Foreign contributions were found to be made to the Clinton family foundation.

In 1993, first lady Hillary Clinton allegedly engineered the firing of seven employees of the White House travel office and the hiring of a firm with ties to the Clintons to replace them. Multiple investigations absolved the president of involvement but Hillary Clinton was found to have made false statements to investigators.

Hillary Clinton convened her task force to create her husband's national healthcare program, it included multiple representatives from government, the health and insurance industries and academics. Despite the obvious potential for conflicts of interest in closed deliberations, the task force's meetings were kept secret throughout its existence.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bill and Hillary Clinton were associates of Jim and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corp., an Arkansas real estate investment firm that went under when McDougal's Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan was closed by federal regulators for illegal accounting. Taxpayers lost $73 million due to Guaranty.

Vince Foster was President Clinton's deputy White House counsel and long-time friend of Hillary Clinton. He committed suicide in 1993, and his body was found in a park just across the Potomac River from the White House. Files were also allegedly removed from his White House office before investigators were able to secure it as part of the official probe into his death.

Congressional and Justice Department investigators began issuing subpoenas in 1994 for Hillary Clinton's billing records as a partner in the Rose law firm at the center of the Whitewater scandal. She said her role was incidental, but when the records mysteriously turned upin the White House in 1996, they showed she met repeatedly with key figures in the scandal.

Seats on Commerce Department international trade missions were sold to corporate figures in return for big contributions to President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who was reported to have opposed the scheme, died when one of the missions crashed in Croatia, leading independent counsel Daniel Pearson to leave his investigation unfinished.

More than 800 people stayed overnight in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House during President Bill Clinton's tenure. At least $5.4 million in campaign contributions from many of those guests went into Clinton's re-election effort.

A close associate of Indonesian industrialist James Riady, Huang initially was appointed deputy secretary of commerce in 1993 to the Clinton administration. By 1995, however, he moved to the Democratic National Committee where he generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from foreign sources. Huang later pleaded guilty to one felony count of campaign finance violations.

Charlie Trie raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from foreign sources to Democratic campaign entities. He was a regular White House visitor and arranged meetings of foreign operators with Clinton, including one who was a Chinese arms dealer. His $450,000 contribution to Clinton's legal defense fund was returned after it was found to have been largely funded by Asian interests. Trie was convicted of violating campaign finance laws in 1998.

Johnny Chung gave more than $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee prior to the 1996 campaign, but it was returned after officials learned it came from illegal foreign sources. Chung later told a special Senate committee investigating 1996 Clinton campaign fund-raising that $35,000 of his contributions came from individuals in Chinese intelligence. Chung pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations.

Then-Vice President Al Gore repeated the phrase "there is no controlling legal authority" at least seven times during a news conference called to explain his multiple telephone calls from the White House to solicit contributions to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign in 1996. In fact, the law was and remains clear that partisan campaign contributions cannot be solicited on or using federal property.

President Clinton became only the second chief executive ever impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 after being found guilty of obstructing justice and committing perjury in connection with a grand jury investigation of his sexual relationship in the White House with an intern. Hillary famously blamed a "vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

Shortly before leaving the Oval Office, Bill Clinton issued a number of controversial pardons for controversial individuals represented by lawyers with ties to the administration. The most controversial wasconvicted tax evader Marc Rich who was pardoned after his former wife made big contributions to the Clinton presidential library and to Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.

During her unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton claimed to have come under sniper fire during her arrival as first lady at an airport in Bosnia in 1996. She recanted her claim after CBS News broadcast video of the arrival that demonstrated there was no sniper fire.
Foreign contributions were found to be made to the Clinton family foundation.

In 1993, first lady Hillary Clinton allegedly engineered the firing of seven employees of the White House travel office and the hiring of a firm with ties to the Clintons to replace them. Multiple investigations absolved the president of involvement but Hillary Clinton was found to have made false statements to investigators.

Hillary Clinton convened her task force to create her husband's national healthcare program, it included multiple representatives from government, the health and insurance industries and academics. Despite the obvious potential for conflicts of interest in closed deliberations, the task force's meetings were kept secret throughout its existence.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bill and Hillary Clinton were associates of Jim and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corp., an Arkansas real estate investment firm that went under when McDougal's Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan was closed by federal regulators for illegal accounting. Taxpayers lost $73 million due to Guaranty.

Vince Foster was President Clinton's deputy White House counsel and long-time friend of Hillary Clinton. He committed suicide in 1993, and his body was found in a park just across the Potomac River from the White House. Files were also allegedly removed from his White House office before investigators were able to secure it as part of the official probe into his death.

Congressional and Justice Department investigators began issuing subpoenas in 1994 for Hillary Clinton's billing records as a partner in the Rose law firm at the center of the Whitewater scandal. She said her role was incidental, but when the records mysteriously turned upin the White House in 1996, they showed she met repeatedly with key figures in the scandal.

Seats on Commerce Department international trade missions were sold to corporate figures in return for big contributions to President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who was reported to have opposed the scheme, died when one of the missions crashed in Croatia, leading independent counsel Daniel Pearson to leave his investigation unfinished.

More than 800 people stayed overnight in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House during President Bill Clinton's tenure. At least $5.4 million in campaign contributions from many of those guests went into Clinton's re-election effort.

A close associate of Indonesian industrialist James Riady, Huang initially was appointed deputy secretary of commerce in 1993 to the Clinton administration. By 1995, however, he moved to the Democratic National Committee where he generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from foreign sources. Huang later pleaded guilty to one felony count of campaign finance violations.

Charlie Trie raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from foreign sources to Democratic campaign entities. He was a regular White House visitor and arranged meetings of foreign operators with Clinton, including one who was a Chinese arms dealer. His $450,000 contribution to Clinton's legal defense fund was returned after it was found to have been largely funded by Asian interests. Trie was convicted of violating campaign finance laws in 1998.

Johnny Chung gave more than $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee prior to the 1996 campaign, but it was returned after officials learned it came from illegal foreign sources. Chung later told a special Senate committee investigating 1996 Clinton campaign fund-raising that $35,000 of his contributions came from individuals in Chinese intelligence. Chung pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations.

Then-Vice President Al Gore repeated the phrase "there is no controlling legal authority" at least seven times during a news conference called to explain his multiple telephone calls from the White House to solicit contributions to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign in 1996. In fact, the law was and remains clear that partisan campaign contributions cannot be solicited on or using federal property.

President Clinton became only the second chief executive ever impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 after being found guilty of obstructing justice and committing perjury in connection with a grand jury investigation of his sexual relationship in the White House with an intern. Hillary famously blamed a "vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

Shortly before leaving the Oval Office, Bill Clinton issued a number of controversial pardons for controversial individuals represented by lawyers with ties to the administration. The most controversial wasconvicted tax evader Marc Rich who was pardoned after his former wife made big contributions to the Clinton presidential library and to Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.

During her unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton claimed to have come under sniper fire during her arrival as first lady at an airport in Bosnia in 1996. She recanted her claim after CBS News broadcast video of the arrival that demonstrated there was no sniper fire.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

(from http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/5800-Bottle-of-Wine-Bordeaux-Stolen-from-Mystic-Restaurant-335858541.html)
". . . A nearly $5,000 bottle of Bordeaux disappeared from a Mystic restaurant and police have released surveillance video of the man they think stole it.
The surveillance video from the Octagon Steakhouse, at the Mystic Marriott, in Groton, taken around 2:15 p.m. on Monday, shows a man pace back and forth in the empty dining room a few times, then walk into the wine room. Staff later discovered that a bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus was gone.
In 2014, a case containing 12 bottles of the wine sold at a Sotheby’s wine auction in New York for $45,938, according to Bloomberg. Police ask anyone with information about the wine theft to call Officer Wilczek at 860-441-6712 and refer to case 15-2921-OF or submit a tip online. . ."

Saturday, October 24, 2015

(from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/17/for-wife-of-imprisoned-saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-its-a-life-of-waiting/)
". . . “It’s a life of waiting,” said Ensaf Haidar, whose husband, Raif Badawi, a blogger who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for almost four years. . . lives in exile in Canada with their three young children . . . is in Washington this week, meeting with members of Congress and officials at the State Department trying to persuade the U.S. government to put more effort into seeking her husband’s release. . . Badawi . . . was sentenced in 2014 to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes, along with a fine of more than $250,000, for criticizing Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious and political leaders on his Saudi Liberal Network Web site. “He is just a blogger,” said Haidar . . . a tiny woman whose speech is careful and contained, and without any trace of anger. “He has been away from his kids and his family for four years, and there is no valid reason for that. He’s just a very peaceful writer.” Badawi received the first 50 of his lashes in January in a public square outside a mosque in the port city of Jiddah. A video posted on YouTube showed him standing silently as a police officer struck his back and legs with a wooden cane and onlookers cheered “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” Saudi officials said the lashings would continue, 50 every Friday for the following 19 weeks. . . Saudi officials have told rights groups to back off. Some, including Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, the former longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States, have criticized “outside interference” by rights groups and the media in the Badawi case. . . "

Thursday, October 22, 2015

(from the writings of The Rev. Howard Bess**)
" . . . Is there anything in the Lazarus story for me? My answer is “yes.” I cannot get past “Unbind him and set him free.” This is the great mission of devoted followers of Jesus. We are to help set people free from superstitious beliefs, destructive behavior, harmful habits and selfish patterns of living. The life of the follower of Jesus is neither inactive nor passive. No human being should live in bondage of any kind. I can think of no more exciting life than a life given to setting others free. . ."

** The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

“It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, First Frost

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus

“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Per one of our more (or LESS) distinguished (depending upon your perspective) public speaker (and dubious past "public servant") and as of late, a pretty worthless authority on ANYTHING . . . a "man" who purposely destroyed (at least one) livelihood based upon a self-serving philosophy. . .

". . . Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came off as an elderly, dyspeptic Bilbo Baggins attending a British Labour Party meeting. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley sounded like an overly earnest, slightly too intense 1950s ad man making a bad pitch. Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee was as hapless as a puppy stranded in a hurricane. And former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, probably sensing how inconsequential he is, was angry all night. It’s hard to believe this crew will draw many viewers for future debates. .."

Monday, October 19, 2015

(from wikipedia.com)
". . . The area's recorded history begins with the arrival of French explorers, missionaries and fur traders in the late 17th century and their interaction with the local Potawatomi Indians. There were small settlements and a U.S. Army fort, but the soldiers and settlers were all driven off in 1812. The modern city was incorporated in 1837 by Northern businessmen and grew rapidly from real estate speculation and the realization that it had a commanding position in the emerging inland transportation network, based on lake traffic and railroads, controlling access from the Great Lakes into the Mississippi River basin. Despite a fire in 1871 that destroyed the central business district, the city grew exponentially, becoming the nation's rail center and the dominant Midwestern center for manufacturing, commerce, finance, higher education, religion, broadcasting, sports, jazz, and high culture. . . "